Vegetarian Bean Loaf With a Sweet Mustard Glaze

There's nothing like a hearty meatloaf, is there? This is a dinnertime favorite along with potatoes and at times, gravy. Many of us grew up with this classic dish, in fact. Vegetarians and vegans or anyone trying to switch to a meatless diet, may find themselves longing for more than vegetables at a meal. With this hearty loaf, they can have their "meat" and eat it too!

A number of challenges arise when attempting to make a meatless loaf: 1) you need a mixture that holds together, 2) you want something that has a meat-like consistency that brings to mind all those delicious meatloaves of your childhood, and 3) the loaf has to be tasty enough to satisfy your palate. This craving for flavor has been the Waterloo for many wannabe vegetarians. After days or weeks of eating mostly vegetables, grains, pasta, and cheese, they find they need more. Humans crave variety in what they eat and enough flavor to keep them satisfied. If we are honest, we have spent years with meat as the main menu item and the vegetables and other stuff added around the meat. So it's a good idea to come up with healthful alternatives to meat to help to round out your meal (as meat did formerly).

To the rescue: beans. Cooked beans can serve as the base to build a loaf that is a close second to meatloaf. We all know that beans help to rid the body of cholesterol, so each time you make this loaf, you can enjoy it without the worry of the health impact of all that meat-based fat on your arteries.

This recipe for vegetarian meatloaf results in a moist, dense loaf with such a meat-like consistency, it could fool die-hard meat lovers. The glaze adds a nice look to the top of the loaf, plus it also adds flavor.

The night before, soak a bag of yellow eye beans, leaving plenty of water, because they will they expand. The next day, drain beans, rinse well, then refill pot and set to cook.

I like to cook my beans in my crock pot, so I soak them overnight in that. Beans can foam and boil over on the stove but if you use a crock pot, this does a far better job and you never have to worry about foam0over and boil-over.

There's also no risk of beans sticking to the bottom of your pot ad scorching, as can happen when you cook beans on top of the stove and forget them during cooking.

You can make oat flour in seconds by grinding oats in a blender or food processor. Use a spatula to push oats down from sides and onto blades until you have oat flour.

I often make a large batch of oat flour and store it in a glass jar in the pantry to have on hand for use in recipes.

• Mash your beans well, so that mixture is smooth and "bean free."

• Because you aren't dealing with raw meat, you can check the flavor, as you go, adjusting seasonings to your preference.

• Soak and cook up beans and freeze them, so that you will have them on hand for making future loaves.

If you wish to add a glaze to the top of your loaf, once your mixture is in your loaf pan, simply brush over mustard and molasses (pictured).

• mustard and brown sugar
• barbecue sauce

I start my oven out at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes and then reduce the heat to 300 degrees for the last half hour or so of cooking.

Check your loaf. You want it brown, just as regular meatloaf goes brown around the outer edges, but do not allow it to dry out from over-cooking. Plan on around 40-60 minutes for cooking time.

Take loaf from oven and leave in pan.

Slice while still warm.

• Slices are delicious when fried
• Place sliced bean loaf in a greased casserole dish, top with barbecue sauce and reheat in oven.
• Place slices in a greased casserole dish, top with mushroom gravy and reheat until bubbling.

Sometimes it takes thinking outside the box to find alternatives to meat--and your "raw material" may be as close as your kitchen pantry. Beans are a good choice, for their fiber, protein, and texture; and as touched on in this article, if care is taken to add lots of seasonings, meatless loaves and patties can be quite flavorful and satisfying.